I am the Master of my Domain: Garrisons in Warlords of Draenor

First off, if you don't get the Seinfeld reference in the title, I feel sad for you.

For ages, people have been asking Blizzard to add player housing to World of Warcraft. Here we are, Azeroth's greatest heroes, having triumphed over the Lich King and Deathwing and Kil'jaeden, and yet we're all, technically speaking, a bunch of homeless bums.

But Blizzard's constant refrain has been that they only want to do player housing if they can make it interesting - something more than just a little phased or instanced area where you get to look at static stuff.

As I've argued before, Sunsong Ranch was really the first player housing in the game. It served a pretty simple purpose: allowing people to literally farm resources if they were sick of flying around all the time. It also tied in deeply with the complex cooking changes that required many different kinds of vegetables.

As of 5.3, we might own Sunsong Ranch, but it doesn't really feel like a home. It's more of a little getaway, where we can escape the violence and bloodshed to just work on our green thumbs.

The thing is, at this point, we're really respected within our factions. People are excited to know that we've arrive on the battlefront, because we tend to turn the tides. Isn't it time we were given some kind of command?

With the Garrisons, we get to command our own base, establishing a stronghold on Draenor. We effectively become quest-givers ourselves, sending out lesser aspiring heroes to complete tasks that will help the war effort.

To recap what you'll be able to do with the Garrison:

You will begin with a few plots of land of varying sizes. These can hold different buildings, which serve various functions. You Garrison will attract various followers (who we can imagine to be likeminded adventurers who see your town and think "hey, a quest hub!") You will then be able to send these followers on various missions, from quests to scenarios to dungeons to, finally, raids. As they do these missions, you'll gain resources with which to build more of your base, and in the meantime, your followers will level up and potentially gain new gear for themselves.

It looks to be a very deep system (this is Blizzard, after all,) but the benefits are pretty tangible for yourself as well. As the followers go on more challenging missions, the chance that they will bring you back gear gets higher and higher. Sending them to dungeons will guarantee a blue piece of gear (though whether this is an actual boss drop or some kind of randomized item is unknown,) and presumably they'll bring back epics from raids.

Going further, while many of the buildings on your Garrison will be based around managing your followers, there will also be things like a Smithy, or an Engineering Works, or a Mine, that allow your followers to gather resources or learn professions. The idea here is that while you might want to just stick with your own professions, your followers will be able to provide you with a limited version of the other ones. It looks, also, like there will in fact be a farm not unlike Sunsong Ranch on your Garrison, though I imagine that rather than having us use Snakeroot seeds, there will be separate areas to find other resources.

Garrisons will be able to move, setting up in designated areas of each Draenor zone. And rather than really being phased, you'll be able to see your watch towers and walls from far away. Any party members or even raid members that want to see your place - or trade resources with you - can come along to your Garrison as long as you're the group leader.

I expect that this will be one of the most exciting new features of Warlords of Draenor. This ain't some house in the country or a studio apartment in Ironforge. We will all become commanders of our own major fortresses. That sounds pretty awesome.

Character Models: Glowing Eyes and Further Customization

While its true impact on gameplay will probably be minimal, one of the most exciting features coming with Warlords of Draenor is the introduction of new character models for the eight vanilla races and the two Burning Crusade ones.

Blizzard showed off fairly complete-looking previews of the male Orc, Dwarf, and Gnome, as well as a pretty good look at the female Gnome, plus some quick previews of the male Undead, the female Dwarf, and the male Tauren.

They all look fantastic, and I really have to hand it to them for really retaining the conceptual look of the races in most cases while just making them look more modern. I think they did an especially good job on the female Gnome and the male Undead, which give off the feel of "oh, so this is what they were meant to look like all along!" In some of the other cases, it looks like they also had a very subtle re-think of the way the character ought to look, but in everything that has been previewed so far, it's an improvement.

Obviously, we will have to wait and see how the various faces and hair-styles get translated over (wondering if I'll have my Paladin go back to his old hippie braids,) but I'm optimistic.

One of the things that really struck me was the Undead eyes. Currently, unless you go with an eye-less look, Undead simply have glowing spheres for eyes - presumably just a sprite, rather than a 3D object. You can even adjust this via the Barbershop. Likewise, Night Elves also have glowing eyes, which I also believe work the same way, as sprites that float just in front of your character's face. In the new Undead model, the eye does appear to actually be part of the model, but it is still yellow. I wonder if it will still glow if you find yourself in a dark place.

Four of the playable races have glowing eyes, as well as all Death Knights. I'm very curious to see how they translate this look to the new models. Granted, I believe that the BC races had already transitioned to glowing eyes that were just part of the face (in a bright area, it's hard to tell if my Draenei Mage has glowing eyes at all.)

Blizzard has said that priority one is to update the currently-existing models for old characters. We should be seeing a high-res recreation of every face-style and all hair, beards, mustaches, etc (wonder how gruesome the DK-only faces will be?) But once that is accomplished, we may begin to see new options come about.

The most obvious, I think, would be new skin colors. Perhaps we could get dark brown Mag'har or grey Blackrock skin for the Orcs (how come Saurfang has green skin?) Dwarves could obviously get either grey Dark Iron skin, or possibly facial tattoos to appear as Wildhammers. Among the other races, there are probably fewer obvious variations that haven't been taken care of. That said, facial tattoos (beyond the Wildhammer) and maybe scars would be kind of an interesting thing to include.

There's still a lot to show, and I'm sure a lot of it is in a state that they're not ready to show off yet. But from what I've seen, I'm really excited. Let's hope we get this in 6.0! Soon as possible! I expect my Draenei's face tendrils to be magnificent!

Who Will the Final Boss of Warlords of Draenor Be?

There was a lot of conflicting information flying around Blizzcon about what the endgame is going to be for Warlords of Draenor.

While it does appear that Blackhand will be the final boss of Blackrock Foundry, and therefore the capstone boss of tier 17, the other raiding tiers of the expansion remain to be announced.

While some rumors (fueled by what may have been a joke on the part of Blizzard, though sarcasm is tough to discern in print) say that Grommash Hellscream would be the final boss (he does seem to narrate the announcement trailer,) there are other reports that the final boss will not, in fact, be an Orc.

Given that Garrosh was the final boss of Mists of Pandaria, I agree that it would be pretty silly to have his dad as the final boss of the expansion that immediately follows.

In the absence of Grom, other Orc candidates for final boss would probably include Gul'dan or, if they wanted to twist the knife a bit for Thrall, they could have Durotan turn out to be not really any better than the other Warlords (that said, it actually looks more like the Frostwolves will be the main Horde-friendly faction in Draenor, analogous to the Draenei for Alliance.)

But if we believe the notion that the final boss will not be an Orc at all, who then might be it?

Here's the thing: Garrosh's actions have certainly made for a drastically different Draenor. The Orcs have still be whipped into a frenzy and have become an aggressive Horde, but they are not driven to a mindless bloodlust with demon blood. They are basically becoming what they were, but as their own force - free of any debt or ties to the Burning Legion.

But that doesn't mean the Burning Legion isn't there.

In fact, Garrosh's arrival may have actually come after Ner'zhul first started getting the misleading visions of his deceased wife - the visions that proved to be Kil'jaeden's machinations.

Despite the lack of demonic corruption in the Iron Horde, Gul'dan is still definitely among the eponymous Warlords of Draenor, and unlike his colleagues, who have the natural brown skin of a healthy Orc (well, Kargath and Blackhand have grey skin, but I think that's kind of a regional thing, or something,) Gul'dan is indeed green, and has clearly already attained his Warlock powers.

So even if we don't see them as prominently, Kil'jaeden and Mannoroth are out there, in the alternate timeline. Might we then see the Deceiver or the Pit Lord that doomed the Orcs again?

Garrosh's motivations may have been to make his people strong. He wants a rematch against an Alliance that defeated him, and he wants revenge against a Horde that turned on him. But by altering history, he has created a new opportunity for the Burning Legion to enslave the Orcs.

As the Iron Horde inevitably falls to our wrath (it's a video game. Bad guys get got,) Hellscream the elder may, in fact, fall again toward his destiny. Wouldn't it be a tragic irony if Garrosh's attempt to prevent his father from drinking the blood of Mannoroth only leads him to the same place on a different path?

I don't know how much Garrosh we'll be seeing in WoD, but I want to see him realize he's made a mistake. I want to see his vision of the Horde shattered and his will broken. Garrosh deserves to get a serious comeuppance, especially after we spared his life in Orgrimmar and he threw his chance at redemption or at least penance back in our faces.

And I think that the best way to do that - as much as it would suck for the rest of us - is to have his actions ultimately lead to a demonic invasion of Draenor.

Let's kill us a big'ol Demon! Mannoroth, perhaps?

Leveling in Warlords of Draenor

The story goes that Blizzard wants leveling to be a faster, more enjoyable process in Warlords of Draenor.

As someone who's always loved questing and leveling, I also realize that a lot of people aren't really into the grand slog. And yes, getting to the level cap is exciting - having your full kit of abilities and getting the chance to acquire all the fanciest gear.

Leveling has gotten faster and faster over time, even as the level cap has grown higher and higher (a game that started with a cap of 60 will now be going to 100.) Still, the sheer amount of ground to cover can be daunting.

So first of all, they're handing out free level 90s. For those of us who have been keeping up with the game, this is basically a non-existent feature. I could technically skip 4 or 5 levels on my druid and priest respectively, or I could roll up a second (ok, let's be honest, third in some cases) level-capped member of a class, but really, at the end of the day, I've got my people covered.

What I'm far more curious about is the path from 90 to 100. Yes, it's ten levels rather than five, which has been the norm for the past two expansions, but they apparently want leveling to be a "fast, fun romp through Draenor."

What kind of romp are we talking about here?

Well, the details remain a little sketchy (I imagine they're still iterating on this in design,) but it looks like the way quest zones work is going to change dramatically.

Major story quest-chains will be marked, so you can play through them and make sure you don't miss any. You'll even be able to see them on the map.

There will be plenty of other smaller quests and quest chains, and a lot of these will simply be available as soon as you stumble across them. There will be far fewer quest hubs that simply have nothing for you if you haven't gotten that far in the zone's biggest quest chain (basically a total rejection of the Cataclysm model.)

Meanwhile, they're taking inspiration from the Timeless Isle, setting up special events that will occur in zones while leveling that you can take part in for experience and loot.

Quest rewards themselves will apparently come in randomized quality. So you might usually be getting green drops, but on occasion, you'll get a blue or even epic piece.

Additionally, they're going to expand on the treasures that were found in Pandaria, fleshing each of them out with its own story.

What I'm the most curious about is the pace of all of this. They want leveling to be fun and quick. There are lots of zones to explore (though I'm unclear on whether the Horde will have anything to do in Shadowmoon Valley and if the Alliance will have anything to do in Frostfire Peaks) and indeed, the progression path through Draenor.

So how quick are the dings going to be coming in? How long after release am I going to start running heroics, or at least the level-cap normal dungeons (oh my god, could they bring back epics to heroic dungeons?)

It remains to be seen just what scale we're talking about, but I think we may hear the groans of leveling-haters somewhat muffled.

The Ageless Wanderers and an Unbroken Draenor

Setting aside Orcs - who I really expect to be mostly just a bunch of warlike clans with different flavors (though I hold out hope for interesting portrayals of Durotan and Ner'zhul) - the really exciting prospect of Warlords of Draenor is that we're finally going to see more of the Draenei, and if it goes the way I'm hoping it does, we're going to see a huge amount of development for everyone's favorite space goats.

The absolute center of Draenei culture is the Prophet Velen. It was Velen who saw the disastrous consequences of Sargeras' offer to the Eredar, and thus spared a huge swath of his people from being corrupted into twisted abominations: Man'ari. It is through Velen that the worship and power of the Light was introduced to the Draenei. Making even such ancient figures as Malfurion and Tyrande seem young by comparison, Velen has led his people for 25,000 years, traveling from planet to planet, hoping that they will finally find the one world on which they might finally escape the Burning Legion, or, even better, a world that might stand against the Legion with them (hint: Azeroth.)

We don't know if Velen of the alternate Draenor will interact with our timeline's Velen, but given his prophetic powers, it wouldn't surprise me if the two had a sort of synchronized mind, allowing Velen to recognize us upon our arrival even while figures like an unbroken Akama treat us as strangers.

But even without taking into account all the time-travel/alternate universe shenanigans Garrosh has wrought, what we have here is an opportunity to see what a thousand years of Draenei colonization looked like on Draenor. When we first came to Outland, the entire planet was a ruin, and so it was not all that surprising that places like Shattrath, Karabor and Auchindoun were all in shambles. Even Shattrath, a safe-haven protected by the Naaru, the Sha'tar, and the competing Aldor and Scryer factions, was still really just a ruin that had been transformed into a refugee camp.

While the Black Temple was tainted with horrific demonic corruption, Auchindoun was the most utterly ravaged of these central Draenei locations. Just as the summoning of Ragnaros to Blackrock Mountain (was it really called that before the Orc clan with the same name showed up? How convenient!) devastated what used to be a much larger Redridge Mountains, the summoning of Murmur created the Bone Wastes.

Auchindoun was once more than just a haunted ruin. It was a great cemetery, and a sort of temple to the dead. The Auchenai Death Priests were not necromancers, but more undertakers.

For a race that lives for tens of thousands of years (making it seem that they don't really age,) death must feel like a particularly frightening concept (hell, it's pretty scary to those of us who only last a century on the outside.) Death for the Draenei must only come through violence, injury, or disease, meaning that every Draenei death is a real tragedy, and not a natural inevitability of time.

Thus, Auchindoun must have been an extremely holy site, and that makes the prospect for a demonic presence there somehow even worse than usual.

The history we've gotten regarding the millennium between he arrival of the Draenei and their near-extinction at the hands of the Horde is a little light. What we've generally heard is that the Draenei and Orcs were never quite friends and allies, but they were not enemies either, and occasionally traded back and forth.

By seeing an intact Draenei civilization during the rise of the Horde (albeit a different Horde,) we might get a little more insight. Were the Draenei taken completely by surprise? Or had they been expecting something like this? In the original timeline, the Orcs overwhelmed them and used demonic magic to massacre and mutate many of the Draenei. The use of some kind of Fel-Chemical Weapon was what led to the Broken and Lost Ones. Fel magic has been replaced with advanced technology, but as allies of the Naaru, perhaps the Draenei are better-equipped to fend the Iron Horde off. Plus, there's a new factor in play.

The Draenei faced the Old Horde alone in the original timeline. This time, though, they're getting the full might of the Alliance. History will not be repeated, not if we can help it.

But as a final note, I figured I would leave you with this:

If you go to the Warlords of Draenor website, there's a tantalizing clue to how the story might be going forward. Velen has been seen as unimpeachable, infallible: the rock on which the Draenei civilization was built. Yet, read this quote from his character blurb on the WoD website:

As the ancient leader of the draenei, the prophet Velen has spent hundreds of human lifetimes carefully weighing and recording the futures he foresees so that creation itself does not fall. Velen’s guidance preserved his people during an exodus from their homeworld, Argus, but his wisdom is in question after the arrival of the Iron Horde on Draenor. What value is a prophet whose visions cannot prevent calamity?

Might the Draenei be losing their faith in Velen? Might new voices rise up in their ranks, suggesting a new way forward? The Draenei have always been content to remain benevolent advisors, offering help even where they seem unwanted, but always with an aim for peace. With the Iron Horde marching against them, will they abandon their peace-loving ways and bring the wrath of the last of the true Eredar?

When Does Warlords of Draenor Take Place?

One thing that hasn't really been made all that clear about the upcoming expansion is just when Warlords of Draenor takes place.

We're dealing with the Horde's biggest champions (douchebags) from the first and second wars. But this isn't really a time-travel expansion. Garrosh went back and altered Orcish history, but the Draenor to which we are traveling is connected via the Dark Portal to modern, post-Siege of Orgrimmar Azeroth.

It raises the question: when in Draenor are we actually going?

In any case, we are dealing with an alternate timeline. The Draenor that turned into Outland still exists, and the Orcs of Azeroth still have their del-tainted green skin. The history has not changed on our side of the Dark Portal.

So the real question is: just how long was the Iron Horde around?

I can see two basic alternatives. One is my best interpretation of how Blizzard is presenting it, and the other is an alternate interoperation that seems to make the most sense.

First Interpretation:

We are traveling to the past. This "Red Dark Portal" has become a dimensional portal, an alternate-universe portal, and a time-travel portal all wrapped into one. Thus, what we're seeing is truly the early days of the Horde, but united by blood and iron instead of demon blood.

Second Interpretation:

What we are seeing is truly just an alternate universe, created by Garrosh's meddling. We aren't traveling through time at all, it's just that the Iron Horde was waiting to strike for about 30 years longer than it had been. Seems that without the demon blood, they haven't been able to wipe out the Draenei, but they also haven't destroyed their planet, so it's a bit of a wash.

Now perhaps the problem with this is that the all the orcish leaders ought to be way, way older (indeed, there should probably be a Go'el out there without all the serious daddy issues.) While having 30+ years for Garrosh's twisted philosophy to gain traction among the Iron Horde would make more sense that the previously "peaceful nomads" suddenly turning into pretty much the same blood-frenzied berserkers we've known, it also makes it a little odd to imagine that, say, Blackhand hasn't been murdered yet. Grommash should be pretty old, and, well, so should all the other Warlords. Hell, there should be a young (well, modern-aged) Garrosh as well.

Of course, one of the things that we have yet to find out about is just what Gul'dan is up to in this alternate Draenor. Gul'dan was the one that got everyone to drink the Demonic Kool-Aid, and I have to imagine that his dealings with Kil'jaeden are still happening.

The other figure I'm most curious about in this upcoming visit to the past/alternate timeline is Ner'zhul.

Unlike many of the other Orc leaders, Ner'zhul was really just misled and tricked. It's implied he actually meant well, but that Kil'jaeden deceived him. In this alternate timeline, what role might he play? Most of the Warlords of Draenor are being sold as villains, through and through, but could Ner'zhul be capable of redemption.

And of course, the best thing (worst thing if you were actually in the game) is that Ner'zhul would become the first Lich King. Might we see how his connection to the spirits of the dead would give him unparalleled powers of necromancy? I will be very, very disappointed if they don't at least allude to Ner'zhul's connection, scratch that, absolutely key role within the Scourge.

I wonder what he'll think of my Death Knight if we ever meet face-to-face.

Speculation on the WoD Release Date

Typically, the time it has taken to go from announcement to release has been roughly a year. Wrath was announced in the fall of '07 and came out in the fall of '08. Likewise Cataclysm the next two years, and Mists the next two.

But as I said in a previous post, Wrath and Cataclysm both had a whole patch to release before work could begin in full on the next expansion. We got Siege of Orgrimmar in early/mid September, and with no 5.5 on the horizon, we can assume that from Sept. 10th on, Blizzard has been working full-steam on Warlords of Draenor.

That doesn't mean it's ready. After all, they only showed us a little of one dungeon, and details remain sketchy on a lot of the rest of the expansion (though what I've seen of the new character models looks awesome.)

So here's the pessimist's view: if WoD sticks to the pattern, we'll be seeing it some time in the fall of '14. Even from a pessimist's perspective, it seems unlikely that it will be late fall. I would expect that WoD will come out in September at the latest.

But let's throw in some optimism: They have a few months' head start. Consider that 3.3 had yet to come out (with the Dungeon Finder, three dungeons and a 12-boss raid) when Cataclysm was announced. There was a ton of work to be done on one of WoW's biggest non X.0 patches. Likewise, Mists was announced before 4.3, with the addition of a raid, three dungeons, the awesome Darkmoon Isle, Transmog, Void Storage, and the Raid Finder.

But as we stand right now, Mists of Pandaria is totally complete. Sure, some of us (me) haven't really gotten their fill (I must confess I have yet to do flex mode, other than some abortive attempts with my guild - we really need to recruit more healers and another dedicated tank) of 5.3, but from Blizzard's perspective, beyond a few maintenance bug-fixes and the occasional buff or nerf, they're done.

So that's why I imagine we could, in fact, be seeing Warlords of Draenor sooner than usual.

Theoretically, they're hoping to get it out before the early summer/late spring time period. This would seem to imply that they're shooting for early/mid spring, like April or May.

If they can start the Beta before the end of this year, I could see them hitting that (if I recall correctly, the Beta usually lasts about six months, which would fit for late April or some time in May.)

If they can really ramp up the schedule, imagine if they announced a new expansion next year as well? Granted, assuming we get the standard three raid tiers, I wouldn't want them to rush through it too fast, but one of the things that was always cool in Mists of Pandaria was the fact that there was always something to look forward to. About a week or two after each major patch, they opened the next one on the PTR. Right now, even though I think Siege of Orgrimmar is still relatively fresh (though I definitely haven't been hitting it as hard on LFR as I was ToT, so maybe that's just because of my personal experience,) we're now in the longest period without new content in the expansion (which admittedly is typical for the final patch.)

It's not happening tomorrow, but I have some very reserved and cautious hopes that we might get Warlords of Draenor in the first half of 2014.